An Unlikely Pair
by COOKIECHEESEMAN
Summary: Complete. Nino asks Lyn to help Jaffar make a friend for him. Lyn's suggestion turns out to be a good match for the silent assassin, and the outspoken cleric doesn't mind the company either. Eventually, Jaffar's former comrade gets involved as well, deeming it essential for Jaffar's well-being. SerraxJaffar romance, with LynxLegault and Nino starring as the impromptu match-makers.
1. Equals

Author's Notes

So, I said I wanted to commit another unforgivable sin of Fire Emblem! And this time, it's pairing Jaffar with someone other than Nino from FE7. Isn't that... wait, where are you going?! I haven't even started yet! STOP RUNNING AWAY!

The story takes place after Eliwood's army defeats Sonia, and Nino and Jaffar join the group permanently.

* * *

An Unlikely Pair

Chapter 1: Equals

"Jaffar, I think you need to widen out as a person," little Nino suggests, and before her companion and protector can respond, she explains, "we're a part of this army now. The people who we've worked with our entire lives are now our enemies. This is our family now. So we need to get to know these people..."

"No need," Jaffar gruffly answers, shaking his head at the small girl. "We should leave as soon as possible. We can manage ourselves."

"But we can't," Nino counters, and she stares at Jaffar with worry. "We'll never survive just the two of us, or at least not yet. Once the world is at peace, we can go off on our own. Just hold on, please... for me?"

Jaffar doesn't respond, but when Nino's eyes begin watering, he knows he has no choice. He's never had to answer to anyone except Lord Nergal... but since meeting and becoming friends with Nino, he finds that for some reason, he is inexplicably bound to her every whim, especially when she cries. He generally doesn't mind, but once in a while it can work against his favour, such as in this situation. Nevertheless, he knows Nino will never forgive him if he forces them to leave, so he simply sits on a log and nods in reluctance.

"Thank you! Everything will work out, I swear!" Nino promises, and after hugging Jaffar, she runs off towards Lyn's tent. "I'll be back in a few minutes!"

* * *

As Jaffar sulks on the log, Nino lightly shakes Lyn's tent and calls out a greeting. When she is granted access, she enters and finds Lyndis lying on her cot, simply resting. "Hello, Nino. What brings you here?"

"Hello Lyn!" Nino happily greets her. "I'd like to talk to you about something, if it's okay."

"Sure, I'm not busy right now."

Nino takes a deep breath before speaking. "You... said we were friends, right?"

"Of course we're friends," Lyn confirms, and she sits up on her cot in concern. Why is Nino asking her this? "Is something wrong?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could help me with something," Nino starts, and she bits her lip in nervousness. "You see, I'm trying to explain to Jaffar that he needs to make friends, but he's a bit hesitant... and shy, of course. Do you know someone who would be easy for him to talk to?"

Lyn leans on her hand as she thinks about who might be good for someone like Jaffar to converse with. Of course, he almost killed one of their own previously, and even though he was being manipulated and didn't know any better, that would still make many hesitant to talk to him.

So the big question is, who would associate with Jaffar and not feel intimidated by his presence?

Perhaps, the best person for Jaffar will be someone who won't let him get a word in edgewise.

"I have an idea," Lyn announces, and Nino sighs in relief. Maybe Jaffar will be just fine. "If you can just come with me, Nino; we'll go fetch her."

"H-her?" Nino stutters. The person Lyn thinks can get along with Jaffar is a _girl?_ "Is that... a good idea?"

Lyn can sense Nino's unease, and she chuckles. "You say that Jaffar is a good person, right? If that's true, then the woman I'm thinking about will be just fine. Come now, let's go find her."

* * *

The two girls look everywhere in the camp for the woman in question, but she is nowhere to be found. Determined to find her, they continue searching, but to no avail. Eventually, they arrive back at Lyn's tent at a loss on what to do next. After a few minutes of conversation, they go over to the log where Jaffar was sulking before...

...and find that who they're looking for has been there the whole time.

"So, I was just being my usual, caring self, and Erky actually calls me self-centered!" Serra explains to Jaffar, completely unaware of the fact that her captive audience couldn't care less about her story. "Who does he think he is? After everything I've done for him..."

"Serra!" Lyn calls out, and Serra stops talking so that she can wave to Lyn in greetings. "I wanted to ask you for a favour... but I guess I don't really need to ask anymore, since you're already here. What's going on?"

"Well, if I can help, that's great!" Serra beams, happy to be useful. "I was walking by, just FUMING about what Erky said about me..."

An exasperated huff escapes from Jaffar's mouth, and it's not evident whether it was done purposefully or by accident. "I've heard this story... three times already..."

"How rude!" Serra interjects, completely losing her train of thought. "You were sulking on this log, and I TRIED to be nice by sitting with you and conversing..."

"But I've yet to speak..."

"Huh?" Serra interjects, cutting Jaffar off. She's surprised at the statement, evidenced by her widened eyes. "I'm sure you would have said SOMETHING at some point..."

Lyn rolls her eyes in amusement. Clearly Serra needed someone to complain to, and Jaffar was the closest victim; that's all there is to it. She started talking, and he couldn't respond because she never _stopped_ talking.

"Either way, that's no issue," Serra says, standing up in confidence and holding out her hand in front of Jaffar. "I guess I should officially introduce myself, though. I'm Serra, everyone's favourite cleric! Stand in awe of my amazing-ness!"

"Is that a word?" Nino asks Lyn innocently, and Lyn shakes her head in amusement.

Meanwhile, Jaffar isn't making any move to accept Serra's handshake.

"Where are your manners?" Serra growls in annoyance. Who is this man that won't even accept a handshake? And from someone like _her,_ no less?

"...we're not equals."

The words catch Serra off guard. "Huh?"

Nino watches the situation worriedly. Even though Jaffar was previously a member of the Four Fangs; one of the highest positions in the Black Fang; he was treated like a monster for the most part by all of the lower-ranked Fangs. It was only his other Four Fang members (and Nino herself) who treated him with any respect. Therefore, this led Jaffar to believe that he didn't deserve to be treated as someone worth respecting. It was not easy for Nino to find this out; it was only after she served him multiple cups of his favourite apple tea that his lips were loosened enough to reveal such information.

"In this army, everyone is an equal."

Serra whispers the words sweetly to Jaffar, and even sits on the log beside him while wearing a smile of extraordinary sincerity. The sudden change in demeanour is surprising to everyone, even Jaffar. "It doesn't matter if you're a mercenary, a general, a thief, a prince, or even a runaway vagabond. If you're part of this group, you're a comrade, viewed in the same way as everyone else." She extends her hand to Jaffar once more. "And nothing can change that."

Jaffar just stares, unsure of what to think of Serra's gesture of kindness. However, after much thought, he reluctantly shakes her hand, much to the surprise of Nino. "I honestly wasn't sure what he would do," she comments.

Lyn merely nods in acceptance, happy that the situation is turning out well. When the handshake is concluded, Serra now climbs up onto to Jaffar's back for no discernible reason. Understandably, Jaffar immediately drops her onto the ground, causing Serra to shriek and the other two girls to gasp.

"What was that for?" Serra cries out, slowly pulling herself up and dusting off her cleric's dress. "Now that we're friends, I needed you to carry me to back to the healer's tent because I don't feel like walking. You shouldn't have just DROPPED me on the ground like a sack of potatoes!"

"You said equals," Jaffar responds in complete seriousness. He clearly is not impressed with her reasoning, nor does he believe Serra when she says 'friends'.

"Well, maybe we'll eventually be friends. But first, now that you've completely dirtied my favourite dress, you MUST carry me back now, as way of apology." She pulls herself back into piggyback position on Jaffar's back. "I'll even forget this little incident entirely, because that's just how nice I am."

 _Of course you'll forget for now,_ Lyn thinks to herself, and she smirks. _And then you'll bring it up the next day to attempt to guilt him._

This time, Jaffar doesn't drop the cleric on the ground, and instead glances at Lyn and Nino to hopefully provide him with a way to get out of this situation. Unfortunately for him, Lyn is still smiling to herself, and Nino looks as clueless as he does, so he has no choice but to comply. He sulks the entire way to the tent as Serra talks his ear off about something else her "Erky" did to her. Meanwhile, Nino and Lyn are following behind at a close distance.

"Maybe this was a bad idea," Nino confesses, and she looks at the ground in guilt. "I shouldn't have even said anything to him..."

"Actually, this could have gone a lot worse," Lyn admits, and she gives the small mage a smile. "I think they'll get along very well. Serra's acting like her normal self, and Jaffar doesn't seem to be making any move to try and get away. Maybe he's comfortable associating with someone so outspoken. He doesn't have to force himself to make conversation."

Nino glances at the talkative cleric and the silent assassin. Surprisingly, Jaffar _doesn't_ seem uncomfortable with Serra's presence, and Serra clearly doesn't care who she's talking to as long as they don't run away from her.

"I think... you might be right," Nino agrees, and she gives the much taller woman a hug. "Thank you for being my friend. I finally believe that I belong somewhere after everything that's happened."

Lyn gawks slightly at the young girl's confession, but she quickly recovers and hugs Nino back. "You're welcome."

When the hug is finished, Nino glances back at Jaffar and Serra and says, "I wonder what will become of those two."

"Hopefully they don't try to kill each other in annoyance or something like that. That wouldn't be very good," Lyn chuckles, and Nino stares at Lyn in horror, not entirely sure if she's joking or not.

* * *

Author's Notes

Time for another multi-chapter fic, I guess, this time featuring Serra and Jaffar! Now, I know that pairing Jaffar with someone other than Nino is probably another one of those unforgivable sins of FE pairings, (since JaffarxNino is JUST SO CUTE and canon and why would Jaffar develop feelings for ANYONE other than Nino? INCONCEIVABLE) but I don't care. I have this idea, and I must write it. :p We need more variety in Fan Fiction!

I purposely picked Serra for this. If there's anyone who could draw out Jaffar other than Nino, it's her. Her personality is so infectious, plus she's very genuine, even when she's praising herself. Lyn was a purposeful pick as well. Lyn was the one who said that Nino and Jaffar were their friends in-game. But as I wrote this chapter, I realized just how much it will be to use her as a main character for the story. She has shown that she can tease people, and I hope to utilize that. :D On that matter, though, hopefully everyone is IN character!

It took me a long time to figure out whether I should make this a one-shot or a multi-chapter fic, and eventually I decided that the story shouldn't end here. However, I need to write my next chapter of A Glimmer of Hope before I update this story, so hopefully it's not a huge wait. Just a friendly reminder to PLEASE sign in and log into your account before leaving a review! Any encouragement or constructive criticism is welcomed! Although, I'd also like everyone's opinions on this pairing choice if possible as well. Do you think it works? Do you like it? I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts! See you soon, hopefully!


	2. Sweet

Chapter 2: Sweet

After dropping off the outspoken cleric at the healer's tent, Jaffar tries to leave, but Serra's obviously not going to allow it, judging by the annoyed look on her face. "Hey! Where do you think YOU'RE going?"

Where else can he be going? Away, obviously. "No need to stay here..."

"How rude! What about at least saying goodbye first? You're just leaving a lady without properly sending her off?"

"..."

"OOOOOOOOOOOH! That's not very nice, Jaffar." Suddenly, she gets an idea. A devilishly wicked idea... one that only an angel can conjure up, of course. "Don't you say goodbye whenever Nino leaves somewhere? Or vice versa?"

This isn't something that Jaffar's ever thought of before, so he's unsure of how to answer. Serra notices this pretty quickly, and decides to capitalize on it. "So, I'm your friend now, and friends say goodbye to each other."

"You said equals."

"Yes, you said that already. Well, we might as well be friends now, so no need to discuss that anymore," Serra decrees, and Jaffar has no option but to accept it. "You know what else friends do? Look out for each other! So, tomorrow, I'm going to help you see something so exciting that you'll never forget how great I am!"

This is clearly a ruse, of course. Serra's plan is to attempt to do something to get Jaffar in trouble and embarrass him at the same time. But she's not completely cruel; she'll let him get some enjoyment out of the situation...

"So, Jaffar," Serra starts, walking to Jaffar's side and wrapping her arm around his shoulder, "what do you find attractive in a woman?"

That's the last question Jaffar expected to hear from Serra.

And frankly, he doesn't have an answer.

"...I'm not sure."

Serra gapes; how can he not know?

"It's just something I've... never... thought of," he mumbles, uncharacteristically averting his eyes.

Serra appears to think about the statement for a moment, until she suddenly comes up with an idea. "Okay, let's try this. Wait here," Serra instructs, and she runs to the nearby kitchen tent. A few minutes later, she returns with a large bag filled with what Jaffar assumes to be food, but from the little bit of time that he's spent with Serra, anything could be inside there. There's obviously something somewhat heavy in there, for she's having a difficult time carrying it.

 _Let's see if I can subtly get an answer out of him..._

Nevertheless, Serra opens the bag, and she takes out various types of round fruit; a pair of raspberries, a pair of oranges, and a pair of cantaloupes, placing them all a short distance away from each other. When she is finished, she grins.

 _He's a man. He MUST have a preference about a woman's..._

"So, Jaffar, considering our topic of conversation about your taste in women, let me ask you this: which of these pairs of fruits are the most APPEALING to you?"

Jaffar studies the fruits for a minute, and eventually, he points to the cantaloupes without hesitation, causing Serra's eyes to bulge.

 _He likes them BIG? I never would have expected that, especially considering he's always with Nino, who would clearly fall under the raspberries category..._

Serra's disbelief is difficult to mask, but she somehow manages to pull the wool over Jaffar's eyes, so to speak; he has absolutely no idea what she's conjuring. After all, she _is_ sneaky. And considering the fact that she's an agent of St. Elimine, nothing she does can fail. Before she can put her plan into effect, though, she just needs to satisfy her curiosity a bit...

"Perfect. So now that I know your preference..." she starts, stifling a giggle, "what is it about... cantaloupes that appeal to you the most?"

"...the taste."

Serra's jaw drops. That response sounds... really dirty. There's no way he's taking this seriously! How can a man say something so filthy in front of a lady? A lady like _Serra_ , no less?

"You're horrible! You should learn better manners! You shouldn't just spew out something so... so..."

Unable to come up with any more words, Serra looks at her own chest with a whole new meaning. After a massive blush covers her face, she growls angrily before storming off, only barely hearing Jaffar's next words...

"...they're sweet..."

* * *

"Jaffar is a pervert!" Serra yells out to nobody in particular, but thankfully, nobody hears her. Jaffar's reputation is already bad enough, and anything else bad said about him would make things worse. But regardless, all Serra wants to do is blow off some steam, so she starts stomping around the camp for a few minutes until Lyn eventually finds her huffing and puffing from stomping too much.

Meanwhile, Serra's bad mood is not a good sign in Lyn's eyes. Just a few minutes earlier, Serra and Jaffar were actually getting along quite well, but clearly something happened after stepping away for a few moments. Nino decided to go off somewhere, so it's only Lyn who decides to come back to see how things are going. "Hello Serra... did something happen with Jaffar?" Lyn asks gently, and she puts her hand on the annoyed cleric's shoulder. "Did he do something to you?"

"Jaffar likes your chest because it tastes sweet."

Lyn is at a complete loss of words. That statement makes absolutely no sense without context. Although, she's not entirely sure whether she _wants_ to understand the context or not. Nevertheless, it sounds funny for some reason, and she just starts laughing quite enthusiastically. "I don't at all understand what you're talking about, but perhaps an explanation might help?"

Serra seems to notice what she just said, and she starts laughing too. "Sorry, it's just your chest is the closest to cantaloupe size in this army right now."

The statement seems to confuse Lyn more, so Serra finally explains what happened, allowing Lyn to somewhat understand the situation. "And you needed to know this information because...?"

"I wanted to embarrass him somehow, just to tease him. The plan was have someone catch him watching someone bathing, but I needed to know his preference to know who else to use. If everything went according to plan, I would have asked you."

Lyn chuckles. "I'll take that as a compliment. But, again, why did you..."

"What's with that 'sweet' comment he made?" Serra now fumes, her mood immediately turning frustrated again as she ignores Lyn's inquiry. "Was he just being stupid? Did he do lots of dirty things with women in the past? I don't know; Lyn, do they taste sweet? I have to know now for some reason."

"Why are you asking me?" Lyn inquires, no longer entirely certain about Serra's intentions. "Why would you think I would know?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Serra responds. "You're one of the few people in the army sizeable enough to be able to taste..."

 _No, Serra, that's not the obvious reason... that's not even a logical reason..._

Before Serra can speak further, a cheerful humming can be heard nearby, and eventually, Nino walks up to the two girls and hands them each a flower; Serra gets a pink flower, and Lyn gets a green flower. "Hello! How's everyone? I missed the conversation, so I'm not sure what you're talking about."

Lyn and Serra look at each other with a mutual understanding of the fact that Nino is probably too young to be listening to what they're talking about. "Just discussing fruits," Lyn finally comments. "Thank you so much for the flower. What's it for?"

"Just thinking of you two! I'm getting flowers for everybody!" she announces, and after waving goodbye, she leaves the vicinity and starts humming once more. As she gets farther and farther away, Lyn has a hunch about something concerning Jaffar's statement, so she causally makes this comment: "Nino is such a _sweet_ girl, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is," Serra agrees, and she can't help but smile at the flower in her hands. It matches her hair perfectly.

 _I don't think Serra got the hint there..._

Lyn tries another comment: "Hey, Serra, _just out of curiosity_ , how would you compare the tastes of those three fruits you showed Jaffar?"

Serra thinks for a moment, momentarily taking her attention away from her pink flower. "Well, raspberries are kind of sour," she starts, and her mouth puckers just thinking about it, amusing Lyn. "Oranges can be good, but sometimes they're a bit tangy. And cantaloupes, well, those taste really good. They're quite..."

Suddenly, Serra's eyes widen, and she just barely mouths the next word: "...sweet."

It appears that Serra has finally figured out the correlation between Jaffar's actions and Lyn's comments, and now that this revelation has hit her so suddenly, she feels very guilty. All she can do is look at Lyn and quietly mutter, "I... I think I owe Jaffar an apology..."

Lyn nods reassuringly to Serra, and patting her back lightly, informs the cleric, "I believe Jaffar's still where you stormed away from him."

Nodding back to Lyn with determination in her eyes, Serra gets up and walks back to where she shouted at Jaffar, and to her relief, the assassin hasn't moved an inch, although he does appear to be concentrating more than usual about something. When she sits down beside him, he glances in her direction, but his expression doesn't change, and she knows she needs to speak.

"Jaffar," she starts, her voice very slightly betraying her, "I want to apologize to you."

The Angel of Death merely continues to watch the cleric, but even he can see that Serra feels guilty. Even though Jaffar himself doesn't really feel or express emotion, he can still notice it from others. In the past, before many of his victims died by his hand, they would try to plead for mercy, often expressing words like, "I'm not normally like this!", or "It's not my fault!" Some even had the audacity to utter the words, "I'm sorry, please forgive me!" and expect him to take them seriously. They would then be cut down without another word.

But Serra... Serra's words are different. Serra may exaggerate about herself and praise herself, but Jaffar can tell that she is truly sorry. Her normally bright smile is gone, and in its place is a frown that frankly looks out of place.

"I didn't really consider the fact that there might be more to you than meets the eye," Serra admits, and her eyes droop even more than they already are. "I didn't really think about your statement, and I assumed the worst... but now, I've figured it out. Concerning your taste in women, it's about what's on the inside that appeals to you, right? Nino's such a sweet girl, so you made your choice based on that, didn't you?"

He doesn't respond.

"Can you forgive me Jaffar?" Serra asks sincerely, and she holds Jaffar tight in a hug, hoping he understands her heartfelt words.

And to Jaffar's surprise, he _does_ understand.

"Yes..." he quietly replies, "but, I must..."

He falters for a moment; he is not much for communicating words, but for some strange reason, he feels an overwhelming _need_ to properly articulate what's he's thinking. Serra notices this, and she understands. She doesn't want to force him to speak, though, so she speaks for him: "You don't need to say anything... I can tell speaking out makes you anxious..."

Jaffar stays quiet. It probably won't even help if he tries to speak. His role in the Black Fang was always to be the silent killer anyway. His opinion was never asked for; in fact, even though he knows that his fellow Four Fang members respected him and his ability, he was usually instructed to sit and wait for further instructions, meaning they never _wanted_ to hear his opinion in the first place. In fact, even though Nino always felt comfortable enough to talk to him and ask him questions, Serra's the first person who's ever wanted him to keep silent... because she understands that he is not comfortable speaking in the first place.

And that's intriguing to him.

* * *

After a few minutes, Serra lets go of the assassin and merely sits on the log beside him, looking out at the campsite in front of them. "You know, we've only known each other for less than an hour, but I feel like I understand you more than some of the people I've known for much longer. Is that weird?"

Jaffar doesn't answer, but clearly she wasn't waiting for one, for she simply continues to talk about a variety of topics, ranging from her prowess as a cleric to more stories about what "Erky" (as she likes to call him) has done to annoy her in the past. They sit like this for at least an hour, and Jaffar doesn't say a word the whole time. He doesn't seem to mind, though, and apparently neither does Serra. He feels like there is no obligation for him to contribute to the conversation, and that's surprisingly calming.

But of course, all good things must come to an end, and Serra yawns and stretches when she seems to have run out of things to say about an hour or two later. However, this time, she actually notices that she did all of the talking again, and it shows on her face. "Sorry, I guess I talked all about myself again... not that that's anything new, ha ha!" she jokes, laughing at her own comment. "You must be bored, so I'll just leave you be..."

"I'm not."

The words surprise Jaffar even more than they surprise Serra, except the surprise is much more evident on Serra's face, since Jaffar doesn't express emotions. "You're... you're not?"

Serra can hardly believe it, and neither can Jaffar for that matter. The words are quite encouraging, though, and Serra smiles warmly at her quiet companion. "Well, there WAS one more story I wanted to tell you..."

As Serra starts talking once again, Lyn walks nearby and notices the two unlikely friends together again, and she's happy that it seems Serra's made up with Jaffar. She's genuinely happy the two of them get along so well, but it's strange as to _why_. She thought the friendship would work; that's why she suggested Serra to Nino in the first place; but she didn't expect it to work out this well.

She'll have to wait and see what happens in the future. Maybe, the relationship will eventually flourish into something else...

* * *

Author's Notes

Hurray for slow updates!

Wow, this was SO LATE. Things have just been so busy. I've been away on vacation, I got a costume ready for the Aikon, (Aikon is Winnipeg's yearly anime convention) and life has just been hectic. Glad I've finally updated!

This is kind of a weird chapter. What in the world was Serra thinking? Honestly, I'm always up for laughs, but this is still just really weird. The main goal was just to draw Jaffar and Serra closer, and I believe I succeeded, so YAY. I hope I'm portraying Jaffar correctly, for he's obviously the much more difficult character to work with. I fear I'm making him too emotional or expressive. And I guess Lyn is taking more of a lead in driving the relationship than Nino is?

Oh yes, and considering cantaloupes, they ARE quite sweet and tasty. The fruits, anyway. I have no experience concerning... OTHER cantaloupes. :p In case nobody noticed, Vaida wouldn't have joined the army at this point, which is why she was not considered at all in this whole strange scenario.

Hope the next chapter of AGOH doesn't take two months to write! And then I hope the next chapter of this fic doesn't take two months to write as well!


	3. Misunderstood

Chapter 3: Misunderstood

"Why are you watching those two so intently?" a sly voice asks, and Lyn turns to find Legault standing beside her. He's grinning mischievously. "Yes, I'll admit that Serra is worth staring at, but my former associate is not nearly as interesting, or good looking. Unless it _is_ Serra you're watching..."

"Nope, watching both of them," Lyn replies, not even missing a beat. Legault is impressed with her quick response. "Nino said Jaffar needed to make friends with people in the army, and I suggested Serra. I didn't think it would work out _this_ well, though."

"...if it were someone else, I would have assumed you were joking," the thief comments, narrowing his eyes. "However, you're smarter than most of the people here. You obviously knew there would be some form of chemistry that would somehow mix naturally instead of exploding in your face." A chuckle. "But you're trying to plan something, aren't you?"

Lyn sincerely has no idea what Legault is talking about, and he notices this, raising an eyebrow at the fact that he misread her. "Hmm... I guess not. Here's a better idea, though... do you _want_ to plan something?"

"Plan something? You mean, with Jaffar?" a new voice asks, and Nino peeks her head out from behind a bush to prove her presence. "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear. Uncle Legault, what are you thinking about?"

"I think Serra could be the key to unlocking Jaffar's emotions."

Legault's observation seems to perk the two girls' interest, especially Nino's. "You really think she can make Jaffar learn to feel? I'd be so happy if that could actually happen for him."

"So what are you saying? Try and get them to fall in love or something?" Lyn jokes, laughing at her suggestion, but Legault's unchanging face seems to suggest that he may agree with the statement. "Wait a second." Her face now grows confused. "You actually think that's viable?"

"Why not?" Legault asks seriously, and he looks back at his former comrade. "Jaffar's a man. Serra's a woman. I think the math adds up."

 _I think the math adds up?..._

"Don't look at me like I'm a fool, Lyndis," Legault comments with a snarky tone, but he quickly smirks to show that he's not offended. "I know it seems farfetched, but I honestly think this can work. Do you want to help me or not?"

* * *

When Jaffar and Serra finally go their separate ways, Legault's plan springs into action. His decision is to catch Jaffar and speak with him while Nino goes to speak with Serra. Meanwhile, Lyn's job is to wait for Legault and figure things out from there.

As Legault approaches Jaffar, he hopes that his former connection with the man might be a motivation to speed things along in the direction Legault wants Jaffar and Serra to end up, but it won't be easy.

Jaffar was never much for talking, after all.

"Angel of Death! I must speak with you for a moment!"

Hearing the familiar voice amidst the slew of people he's never known before isn't something that's happened often since joining this army, so he turns his head ever so slightly towards his former Black Fang member. He remembers actually expressing surprise when he first found Legault one day sitting with some of the army members and nonchalantly talking about what they were eating for lunch, although it was Legault who was even more surprised when he first saw Jaffar. They hadn't spoken much to each other since then. "I see you've taken a liking to that cleric. She is, of course, ravishing. I just can't understand what's gotten you to even talk to people at this point."

Legault assumes that the direct approach is the best way to go with Jaffar. Why beat around the bush when it's generally so difficult to get him to say anything in the first place? Plus, being straightforward allows Jaffar to be straightforward as well... if he even decides to speak. "Hurricane... what are you talking about?"

"I guess everyone has their tastes," Legault comments, completely ignoring Jaffar's inquiry. "Me, I need someone who can match my wit and smoothness in a conversation; someone who can keep me on my toes. Up until now, I just assumed you were into little girls."

Jaffar just stares at him blankly.

"I'm talking about Nino, of course," Legault chuckles, but the mention of Nino's name does seem to perk up Jaffar somewhat. "What would you do if Nino declared her undying love for you in the next day or so? Would you accept it and become her husband?"

Jaffar continues to stare, seemingly not even acknowledging the question, but Legault knows that Jaffar isn't ignoring him. Jaffar is someone who watches everything, and takes in any detail about any situation he's involved with. "Of course you wouldn't answer right away, not that I expected you to. It's a loaded question for sure," Legault admits. "Here's a simpler question. What if a certain cleric said that she was interested in you as a person, and that she wished to form a stronger relationship with you? What would you say?"

After waiting for a few moments, Legault laughs to himself. It appears Jaffar is going to keep silent once again. However, before he can comment further, Jaffar actually does respond, surprising Legault:

"Serra... interests me."

"What?" Legault says, holding his hand up to his ear and leaning in closer to the assassin. He's pretending that he didn't hear Jaffar's response, but being quite the accomplished actor, even Jaffar doesn't suspect that Legault is purposely making him repeat his answer. The raised eyebrow is an impressive touch as well. "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch that. Could you say it again?"

At first Jaffar doesn't want to answer, but eventually he does. "I said that... Serra interests me."

"Ah! So you _do_ like the cleric!"

"Wait... I didn't say..."

"A little wager then," Legault suggests, happy that everything is going according to plan. "If, for some strange reason, Serra does indeed come to you before tomorrow night and says she wants to get to know you better as a person, you will take her up on it. I'll even lend you some gold to take her out for dinner. She'll love it. If she doesn't talk to you about this by tomorrow night, I'll never bring up the subject again. How's that?"

It's not often that Jaffar is taken by surprise; in fact, he can count on his hand how many times it's happened to him. Actually, at this point, he'll have to start using his other hand to continue to keep track in the future, because Legault's idea of having a wager over a situation like this (where there really isn't any benefit to Jaffar if Legault "loses") is so out of left field that anybody would be stumped by it.

Legault takes advantage of this by running away into the forest.

"I'll take that as a yes. See you again, Angel of Death!"

Before Jaffar can do anything further, Legault is long gone, with no chance of being caught. Legault was always the sneakiest of the Black Fang members, after all.

* * *

"Serra!"

Nino runs as fast as she can, attempting to find the cleric she was assigned to speak with. However, she can't find her anywhere, and it's starting to get discouraging. There's something important she needs to talk to her about.

"Serra!"

"You were looking for a pretty, sweet cleric?" a voice coos, and Serra twirls into Nino's line of sight. She seems pretty happy about something. "If you are, there's no need to keep looking!"

"Yes! I was looking for you!" Nino answers, breathing a sigh of relief. "I wanted to know... if you could do me a favour."

"A favour? Maybe!" Serra giggles. "What did you need? If it's something too difficult or strenuous, though, I'll convince Erky to do it for me."

"No, it's nothing like that. It's something I think only _you_ can help me with."

Serra's jaw drops. Even though she claims she's the best, it's very rare that someone needs her and _only_ her. It's quite exciting. "I'm touched, Nino! What is it that you need help with?"

Nino hesitates slightly. She hasn't been associated with the army for very long, so she's still somewhat nervous to talk with some of the others. Even though Serra is friendly, she can come off as someone who can be a lot to handle, which is true. And besides, who knows how Serra will respond to this request? "It concerns Jaffar. You know how he has... a reputation based on what he's done? I heard he almost killed one of the others in this group a while back. And now, almost everybody is scared to be around him. Do you think that... you could somehow show everyone that he's perfectly safe to be around? I want him to start making other friends too."

Serra tilts her head to the side in wonder.

"Maybe if you told everyone that you wanted to get to know him better or something, but if you don't want to..."

"That's a wonderful idea!"

Nino perks up considerably. Serra _really_ likes the idea?

"No one should have to worry about Jaffar. I'd love to help," Serra says honestly, and she smiles brightly. "If you want me to be honest, Jaffar seems like someone who's misunderstood a lot. Besides, if I can't do it, who can?"

Although that last comment seems a bit haughty, Nino understands the good intentions behind it, and she gives the cleric a hug in thanks.

* * *

"You were smart to ask what Nino wanted before deciding what to do."

"Well, if Nino is honest about her feelings, it will be a lot more genuine when she talks to Serra," Legault notes, explaining himself to Lyn in an isolated section of the forest. "Of course, I needed to input my own motives a little bit, but Nino's mainly asking Serra what Nino herself wishes for Jaffar. Serra will more likely take the bait that way."

After running from Jaffar, Legault secretly made his way to a hidden location in the forest where himself and Lyn arranged to meet and discuss the next part of the plan.

"So, now what?"

"Now, I stick to Jaffar like glue... without him knowing, of course, and then hope Serra inadvertently cooperates with us," Legault explains, quite proud of himself for this plan. "And when the right moment comes, WHAM!"

Lyn raises an eyebrow. "Wham?"

"You'll understand it when it happens."

* * *

The next day, Serra finds Jaffar and, much to his chagrin, demands he take a walk with her around the camp. He's not much for random outings, and even though he's a light sleeper and usually wakes up early anyway, having someone force you to wake up just after sunrise isn't the most pleasant way to start your day.

"You should be thanking me," Serra chuckles, ruffling Jaffar's hair affectionately. "It's always good to get exercise in the morning!"

Serra forcing Jaffar to piggyback her for the whole morning doesn't help Jaffar's grumpy mood either. He holds his head down in shame.

"Stop looking so grouchy! This is fun! You're out in the fresh air, you're with good company; I can't even think of a bad side to this situation!"

"But..."

"It's not like I'm heavy or anything."

"No, it's not that..." Jaffar moans, conceding to the fact that things are probably not going to go his way this morning. Best to just get on with it. However, _why_ is he doing this in the first place? He can easily overpower the girl. So why does he bend to her every whim?

"Serra!"

Jaffar glances upwards at the new voice, and not too far ahead of him are two girls from the army looking at him with absolute terror on their faces.

"What are you doing with that horrible man? He's dangerous, and... he's going to kill you if you make him angry. I've heard some terrible rumours about him..." the first girl says, twiddling her thumbs in nervousness. Jaffar's seen both of these girls before. The one speaking to him is the brother of the hard-eyed mercenary that's always travelling with the monk. Although they claim no relation, he can easily distinguish the truth based on their physical features. The second girl is the pegasus knight that's afraid of men; even now she's hiding behind her companion, only barely peeking her head out to see what's going on.

Honestly, though, Jaffar doesn't even care about their reactions. It's nothing extraordinary to him; people have been looking at him with dread his entire life. Except this time, these people aren't his enemies, and he has no reason to even react to them.

Serra, however, finds the situation very insulting.

And it shows.

"What do you know about Jaffar?" Serra shouts, anger clearly written on her face, and her outburst takes the girls by complete surprise. "I know he's done some dangerous things, but the rest of that statement is uncalled for. Where did you get this information? Was it someone who's talked to or knows Jaffar personally?"

The two girls look at each other, and then they look back at Serra and shamefully shake their heads.

"There's absolutely nothing unsafe about him," she comments, and her face melds into a smile again. "I'm sorry for the yelling. It's just that there's a lot more to him than meets the eye."

Without warning, she crawls off of Jaffar onto the ground, and then she wraps her arms around him enthusiastically and presses herself against his body, even rubbing his cheek with her own cheek. "Jaffar is nothing to be scared of."

Jaffar is confused by this situation. He was perfectly content, and yet Serra felt that she needed to defend him. Stranger still, Jaffar can feel the natural warmth emanating from her body, and he's unsure how to perceive it. Being raised from birth as an assassin, he's never received any sort of affection from anybody, not even Nino, and now to receive it from Serra is very perplexing. Should he be enjoying this warmth? Should he attempt to return the favour?

"I'm... sorry," the first girl apologizes, closing her eyes and shaking her head again. "I should know better than to put stock in rumours." A frantic head nodding from the other girl shows that she agrees as well. "May I... try again?"

The girl introduces herself as Priscilla, and her comrade as Florina. Jaffar mutters his name quietly, still unsure how to handle the situation, and then the group of them continue to converse with each other for a while, although Priscilla and Serra are the only ones that do any of the talking. After a while, the girls leave, with Florina not nearly as scared as before and Priscilla even smiling happily at Jaffar as they walk away.

"Well, you just made two new friends," Serra comments, happy that the situation turned out all right. "Keep this up, and you'll be friends with everybody in the army."

Jaffar still cannot wrap his head around Serra's actions, and he soon finds that, despite his quiet and observant nature, he has to find out for himself about what just happened. "Serra..." he starts, unsure of how to form his words, "why... did you do that for me?"

Serra seems surprised by the question. "Why? Because you're my friend. Friends help each other whenever they can. Some even die for their friends if it means that the other person will be safe."

Serra's response is completely against pretty much everything Jaffar's learned in the Fang, where self-preservation is very important. In fact, if one of your comrades is injured, your first task should be to eliminate them, not help them.

Or at least, that's what he's lived by his whole life.

Nino defied that when she saved his life. And Serra's doing the same thing now, even if it's only for protection from other people's words and opinions.

"Is that... really what friendship is about?" Jaffar asks curiously, still somewhat unsure of everything.

"Yes, it is," Serra confirms for him, and she gives him a warm smile. "And as friends, it's good to get to know each other personally. I'd like to learn more about you, and I would hope that you would feel the same way about..."

"Isn't this wonderful?" someone suddenly chortles, and Legault seemingly appears out of nowhere with a huge grin on his face. "I was going to take someone out for dinner with me tonight, but my date is much too busy to oblige. I even have a reservation at the nearby restaurant down by the lake for tomorrow evening, but clearly I can't go by myself. Why don't you two go in my place? I even have some gold I was going to spend for the evening, but it's obviously no good to me now, so you two can use it for tomorrow." Legault then tosses a bag of gold to Serra, who just barely catches it. "Let me know in a few days how the evening goes. Farewell!"

Before either person can respond to Legault's strange request, he's already escaped into the forest, nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Author's Notes

Legault is quite sneaky, isn't he? I'm not sure why, but I thought he would be a great fit to the story due to his connection with Jaffar. I also thought he would pair quite well with Lyn, since she can easily hold her own against him in a conversation. While this unfortunately means that Nino will no longer be one of the main title characters, she'll still hold importance to the story. If we're ever able to have five or more main characters listed instead of four, I'll add her in immediately.

I'll get into the WHAM next chapter, for those who noticed that I didn't revisit it with Lyn at the end of this chapter.

I hope I'm writing Jaffar well. I want to see him change, getting put outside his comfort zone. How does he deal with these new feelings? How does he react when something foreign to him occurs? Things are a lot different with this army than with the Black Fang. How does he develop? Again, I hope there's a natural progression to his character as the fic goes on. Please give me some insight!

Look forward to the next chapter of A Glimmer of Hope before the next chapter of this story! Hopefully it will be out before Fire Emblem Fates gets released, because once that comes out, I'm avoiding the Fanfiction website for a week or two to avoid any and all spoilers. :D


	4. Unloved

Chapter 4: Unloved

For the rest of the day and the entirety of the next day, Legault is nowhere to be seen... or at least nowhere to be seen if your name is Jaffar. In order to make sure Jaffar holds up his end of the bargain, Legault must completely avoid Jaffar at all costs to avoid any sort of confrontation. It's not easy to avoid someone who can become almost completely unnoticeable themselves, but Jaffar isn't really putting much effort into finding the enigmatic thief anyway, so it's not as difficult as it could be for Legault to hide.

Plus, it makes it easier to go over the next step of the plan with Lyn and Nino.

"So Nino, when they come back tonight, you know what to do?"

"Of course Uncle Legault!" the young girl beams. "You can count on me!"

Nino runs off, but there is still something to discuss with Lyn. "You know, Lyndis, you realize we're going to have to both watch them at the restaurant tonight."

"Yeah, I understand that."

"Good, so make sure you're dressed up. This is fancy dining we're talking about here, so you have to make sure you look nice..."

"Honestly, I would have worried more about _you_ dressing fancy, Legault," Lyn taunts, smirking. Legault is amused by the joke. "So we should probably be there sometime before them, right?"

"Perfect. I'll see you just before sundown, then. Don't forget to keep my hiding place a secret from Jaffar."

Lyn simply nods and closes the lid on the box that Legault's hiding in, and when she walks out of the kitchen tent, Hector is staring at Lyn in confusion. "At first I wasn't going to say anything, but now, I have to ask; why were you talking to a box of potatoes?"

"Don't ask."

* * *

"You know, when you said that we have to both watch them tonight, I didn't expect for us to be sitting together at the same table right next to theirs."

"This was the best way to do it," Legault explains, motioning a waiter over to their table. "We're both in close proximity of their conversation, and since we're both of opposite genders, we can pick out the idiosyncrasies of both of them. For example, you should be able to tell if Serra's trying to woo Jaffar somehow."

Lyn just stares stoically at Legault in response. "You really think that's going to happen?"

Legault just shrugs. "Well, what if Jaffar's talking and she just _causally_ undoes the top button of her dress? It's not like I can just stare at her while she does that, tempting though it may be. I'll leave that to you to stare at her."

"What makes you think she'll do that? And how do you know she'll even have buttons anyway?"

"Okay, fine. A zipper, then."

Lyn now smacks her hand into her forehead. "Why are we even talking about this?"

"This is very important conversation."

"Not really, but I will say that I _am_ enjoying it," Lyn admits, and she smiles. "It's fun talking with you."

"Believe me, I feel the same way," Legault agrees, and the waiter finally arrives with two bottles of wine in his hands. "I always love a good clashing of wits. But anyway, we'll continue this conversation later." He glances at the waiter. "Which of those wines do you recommend?"

"The more expensive one, sir. It will make your pocket lighter, therefore lessening your discomfort by carrying less weight in gold after satisfying yourself with food and drink here at our establishment."

"Ah, good, you're my kind of waiter," Legault comments, and the two men laugh as Lyn just shakes her head in amusement. "Do you have the _special menus_ ready?"

"Of course," the waiter replies, and he gives one to Legault and the other to Lyn. "Enjoy."

As the waiter leaves for another table, Lyn looks excitedly at the special menu... and groans in disappointment when the only "special" thing about the menu is the small eye cut-outs used for spying on people behind them.

"I should have known."

"Probably. I _was_ a spy before I joined up with you guys," Legault snickers as he examines the menu to contemplate his dinner choices.

* * *

Jaffar and Serra arrive at the restaurant about a half-hour later, and behind their spy menus, Legault and Lyn are quite impressed with their clothing options. Serra opted to go for the conservative look, sporting a pink sleeved dress that conforms well to the body of the wearer, but still leaves a sense of mystery behind it, though for some reason she decided to wear quadruple ponytails instead of her usual twin-tails. Jaffar, on the other hand, is simply wearing a fancy cloak over his clothes, although he's wearing a much classier shirt and pants than normal. Overall, he looks presentable with the woman at his side.

"I didn't know Jaffar even _had_ such nice clothes," Lyn whispers to herself, quite surprised at what she's seeing. "Serra looks wonderful as well. How did they even..."

"I slipped a pamphlet about this place into both of their tents while they were eating breakfast this morning, so they both knew they had to look fancy," Legault explains, quite proud of himself. "Sadly, though, it appears that Serra's dress doesn't have any buttons on the front."

"She's a cleric, she has to be chaste. She doesn't have to dress like a harlot," Lyn mutters, rolling her eyes. "Were you hoping for the same thing from me, too?" she asks sarcastically.

"You're elegant in speech _and_ beauty. Is it a crime to show that off?"

"Elegant is the wrong word to use," Lyn counters, rolling her eyes again. "But we have to start watching these two now, otherwise this will be a waste of an evening."

As Lyn turns towards the couple just getting seated in front of them, Legault frowns at her startlingly frank statement.

 _I never would have thought of this as a wasted evening..._

* * *

"Thank you very much," Serra says as the waiter pours a glass of wine for her and Jaffar. When he leaves to grab some menus for them, the conversation...

...does not start.

The two of them sit there awkwardly. It seems that Serra has nothing to say at the moment for some reason.

"Idiot, start talking," Legault mutters to himself, and he lobs a bun at Jaffar that hits him square on the head. As it bounces onto the floor, Jaffar turns around and starts furiously scanning his eyes around the room, hoping to find the guilty party. After finding nothing suspicious, he turns back towards Serra and finds her laughing at his misfortune.

"I'm sorry for laughing, but it was just funny to watch," she giggles, and while some could get offended by such an action, Jaffar understands Serra's genuineness when it shows, so he doesn't mind at all. "That bun just came out of nowhere, and WHAM! Nails you right on the head," she reiterates, smacking her fist into her hand as she continues laughing hysterically.

* * *

"Well, there it is."

"Wait a minute," Lyn starts, looking at Legault with a puzzled look on her face. " _That_ was the 'wham' you were talking about yesterday? You tossing a bun at Jaffar and hoping Serra would react to it?"

"Yeppers," Legault fibs nonchalantly, watching closely through the menu eye cut-outs. Lyn sees right through him though.

"Liar," she smirks.

"Yeppers," he replies, still looking at Jaffar. "I merely wanted to add emphasis to our conversation yesterday. I hoped you forget, but like I said, your quick thinking and your elegant words allow you to put two and two together quite swiftly. I always have to think on the fly with you, which is quite refreshing."

"I'll admit that I think that too. Eliwood and especially Hector are quite slow at times," Lyn chuckles, "so it's nice to talk to someone who gets things quickly."

"I appreciate the compliment."

* * *

"So now that the evening's officially started," Serra says, calming down after the bun incident, "I remember the story I wanted to tell you! It's about when Erky accidentally tripped on my dress! OOOOH, he makes me so mad sometimes..."

As Serra rattles on with her story, she occasionally raises her voice, which draws the attention of the neighbouring tables. Even though Jaffar doesn't mind when she does this, and has even come to expect it, some of the bystanders stare at her with disgust. Jaffar notices, and for some reason he can't explain, his chest hurts, just a little bit.

And somehow, it worsens.

Every time she chuckles with just a little too much enthusiasm, someone sighs in annoyance, adding another small prick to the dull ache.

"...are you okay, Jaffar?"

"Hmm?" he mutters in response. Did he stop paying attention? Since when has Serra _ever_ stopped talking in the middle of a story? Does he really look that bad?

"You don't seem like yourself just now," Serra notices, and she seems genuinely concerned. Her eyes are conveying worry. "Was it something I said?"

"...no," he replies, trying to assess the situation in his mind. "...it's been... a long day..."

"Maybe... if you're not feeling well, we should head back," she then suggests, but she's clearly not happy about the idea. "It wouldn't be good to..."

She glances forward, and Jaffar's holding his hand up to stop her. "...I'll be fine."

Serra looks at him for a few more seconds, and then she smiles. "If you say so. Maybe some wine will loosen you up a little! Hopefully the waiter gets here soon! So, as I was saying..."

"Serra."

She stops talking again, though she's seems a little annoyed that someone other than herself ended the conversation. She doesn't like being interrupted, after all. "Yes?"

The words are having a difficult time coming out, but Jaffar realizes that he must say them: "Thank... you..."

Serra's eyes widen considerably. "Thank me? For what?"

Another delay in his speech. "...for caring."

He never thought he would think this way, since the way of the Black Fang is to eliminate those who are in a weakened state, whether physical or mental, but Jaffar can honestly see that Serra really was concerned for his well-being. Even though he received this type of concern from Nino when she saved his life, that was for something very serious and life-threatening. For such a small matter to even phase this outspoken cleric is surprising, and he must admit that it is a good feeling.

Maybe... feeling emotions isn't such a bad thing.

Not that he's ever tried to shut out his feelings, but... now that he perhaps may be noticing them for the first time...

It might not be a bad idea to attempt to embrace them.

* * *

"...Serra's speechless."

"That's a first," Lyn observes, and she takes a sip of her wine. She swishes it in her mouth thoughtfully. "What in the world could he have said for that to happen?"

"Hmm... perhaps I should..."

"No, you're not throwing another bun at them. This is important."

Legault just chuckles. She's figured him out already.

He really is no match for her perception.

* * *

"For... for caring?" Serra utters, staring at Jaffar with concern. "What do you mean? It's not like nobody has ever..."

Jaffar just stares ahead.

He could explain about Nino, but that would take a long time. It's not exactly a simple subject.

"N-nobody? Not even your... parents?"

Jaffar sighs. "...never knew them."

After hearing Jaffar's answer, Serra cannot speak.

She's trying her best to formulate words with her mouth, but they aren't coming out.

"...I guess they... hated me..." Jaffar shrugs. He's never known about his parents, so why would he feel anything for them? It's never bothered him before, so it won't bother him now. "It's fine..."

"It's NOT fine!"

Serra's shouting silences the whole room, but she doesn't seem to notice. Legault and Lyn continue to watch with interest as they ponder over what she's going to do next. Jaffar, meanwhile, is merely observing as usual, though he was slightly caught off guard by the sudden reaction. "You do NOT assume your parents don't love you if you never knew them!" she shouts, pointing at Jaffar accusingly. "I don't know anything about your past, but how can you make such an assumption?"

Now she starts panting from the outburst, but she isn't done speaking yet. "When I was very young, my parents... dropped me off a convent..." she relates, and her eyes begin to water slightly. "I never found out why... but that doesn't mean they... hated me..."

She then breaks down into tears and runs out of the restaurant, covering her face with her hands.

Jaffar can only watch her as she disappears from sight, with an indiscernible look on his face.

And yet, despite the sudden and depressing turn the evening has produced, Legault sees an opportunity to test something that he's noticed during the short amount of time that has passed.

He makes a shushing motion with his finger to his lips to Lyn.

"Wish me luck."

Putting on a large, feathered black hat that obscures his face, as well his longcoat to hide his identity, Legault causally walks up beside Jaffar and faces the same direction where Serra ran off. He starts speaking to Jaffar in a disguised voice: "Well, it's maybe for the best she left. She was getting on my nerves anyway."

Surprised by the comment, Jaffar shifts his eyes to watch the man without moving his head. Something about the conversation is not sitting right with him for some reason. "It's a shame, really. She's attractive, but that mouth of hers really destroys her appeal," Legault continues, purposely making himself sound really annoyed at Serra's behaviour. "No wonder her parents dumped her in that convent. I'd hate to have a child that self-centered and loud and obnoxious."

Prick.

 _What?_

Prick.

The dull ache in Jaffar's chest returns...

Prick.

Prick.

...but this time the pain intensifies much quicker than last time.

Prick.

Prick.

Prick.

 _Why? What is... this..._

"Honestly, a pitiful girl like that..." Legault mutters, smirking, "...she doesn't deserve anyone's attention."

That last comment was the last straw.

 _NO._

One second Legault is standing beside Jaffar, and the next, he's pinned against the wall by the normally stoic assassin, his eyes burning with an anger he's never experienced before.

Legault smiles.

His plan worked.

"So... you _do_ care."

Jaffar's eyes widen, as Legault is no longer disguising his voice, and to further prove it is him, Legault removes the hat from his head, tosses it to his table, (he misses, accidentally landing it on a waiter's head) and applauds. "You did it. You're officially feeling something for her. Don't deny it; it feels nice to care about someone, doesn't it?"

Jaffar doesn't have an answer.

"Perhaps the unloved one who just left should know that, hmm?"

"..."

Jaffar lets down his former comrade from the wall and, nodding to him in understanding, runs out after the cleric to see if he can catch up to her. Watching him go, Legault walks back to his table to find a gawking Lyn. "How... did you think of that?" she asks him, still unable to believe what happened. "You really knew that would work?"

"Yeppers."

She catches on quite quickly that he's fibbing again. "Yeah, right."

"Heh heh. I figured it was worth a shot," Legault confesses, and he takes a sip of his wine.

* * *

Author's Notes

Yay! I actually updated before Fire Emblem Fates was released!

I worked a lot on Lyn and Legault's relationship this chapter so I don't need to focus as much on them in the future. It was fun having them banter back and forth to each other, since they can hold their own against each other in a conversation. Legault's own antics were amusing to write as well, especially the bun incident. :D

I have no idea why I decided Serra would change her twin-tails to quadruple-tails, but I thought it was cute. :p

The relationship between Jaffar and Serra has progressed swiftly in this chapter, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I know they had some help along the way, but... it's still interesting to think about. And this most recent incident... how's this going to work out?

I think it's important to let you guys know this; despite how fast Jaffar and Serra's relationship progressed in this chapter, I can't really have anyone really make a confession of feelings without making either one of them OOC. Don't worry, they'll understand that they have feelings for each other, and the fic shall end exactly as you would expect from the COOKIECHEESEMAN, so don't worry!

At the end of chapter three, I knew this would be a five chapter fic. After I post the next AGOH chapter, I'll get on the final chapter of this fic... although, that might be a while away! Once Fire Emblem Fates comes out on Saturday, I'm going to be pretty much avoiding the fanfiction site for a few weeks, because I guarantee there are going to be SO MANY FE14 stories popping up, and spoilers will be EVERYWHERE. I doubt I'll even be writing for the next few weeks, simply because I'll be playing the game. :p If you plan to get the game, I hope you guys enjoy it! EVEN THOUGH THEY TOOK AWAY THE FACE RUBBING. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR


	5. Together

Author's Notes

Final chapter! The epilogue is in past tense instead of present tense, by the way! And then, a surprise!

* * *

Chapter 5: Together

Jaffar runs swiftly through the forest, searching for the cleric who ran away so upset from the conversation they were just having. Of course, though, the one time he's actually looking for her is the one time that she's nowhere to be found; where could she have gone? Back to camp?

Regardless, it is starting to rain, and it's getting more difficult to see. Frustrated by the situation, Jaffar simply stops and starts listening, hoping that maybe his quarry will make herself known somehow, and therefore allow her to be tracked.

And sure enough, after listening for but a few minutes, her wails can now be faintly heard in the distance.

He takes off in the direction of her cries.

* * *

A few minutes beforehand...

"How could he evoke such memories from me that I purposely pushed out of my mind?" Serra complains, no longer running away from the restaurant due to her fatigue. While she understands in hindsight that she probably overreacted to the situation, her feelings remain unchanged. "OOOOOOOH, I'll have to really work hard to forget again about... well, THAT. Although, who knows? Sometimes it's good to..."

TRIP!

"No, it's not good to trip!" Serra cries out, falling onto the ground after stumbling on a tree root that's escaped from the soil. Groaning, she gets up, but the ground is slippery here, and she falls _again_ , this time into a mud pile. When she finally manages to collect herself, she gasps in horror; her dress is completely muddied up, and her sleeves are torn from the multiple falls.

And now, it begins to rain.

At this point, Serra's had enough.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

While Serra understands that she's being immature about the situation at hand, she no longer cares. She just wants to get back to her tent so that she can warm up and dry off, and maybe even get some sleep. Who knows if that will ever happen, though?

Will anyone even come to help her?

Thankfully, though, before any doubts can get the better of her, she sees Jaffar running to her from the distance, and when he arrives, she literally jumps into his arms in glee. Jaffar nearly drops the cleric in surprise, but he catches her quickly and effortlessly.

Uncharacteristically, however, she doesn't say a word. She simply stays in his arms, whimpering. Jaffar doesn't know what to do with her, though; does he keep holding her? Does he say something? (yeah, right; he wouldn't know what to say) Should he go somewhere?

Eventually, though, as the rain keeps pouring down, it becomes increasingly obvious that they should go somewhere else. While he knows the way back to the camp, it's not a short trip, especially since he ran in the opposite direction to find Serra. It's also too far away to go back to the restaurant since Jaffar can't move that fast while holding Serra.

After weighing his options, Jaffar decides the best course of action is to head back to the camp, and if there's a reasonable place to take shelter on the way, then they'll take advantage of it.

"I'm... taking you back to... camp..." Jaffar mumbles, and Serra doesn't respond, so he takes that as enough evidence to go along with his plan. A few minutes pass, and it is complete silence between the two of them; a very rare occurrence whenever Serra is involved in any situation. A few minutes more, and still nothing.

Jaffar must admit that he doesn't feel entirely comfortable with Serra's silence.

Soon, though, Serra's whimpering lessens, and she looks up at the assassin with a tired, yet content look on her face. "Thank you for coming to get me Jaffar."

He glances down at the girl in his arms, and he's relived to hear her speak, which is confusing to him. Why does it matter now? He's never had appreciation for anyone before, with the exception of Nino, but even then, that was a different feeling than what he's experiencing now. Right now, when Serra speaks, it's almost like...

...a small sensation of warmth?

 _What... is this?..._

"But why?" Serra asks suddenly, and his thoughts vanish. "I know you said you never minded my excessive talking, but even YOU would have gotten bored or frustrated by everything I was saying. Erky told me once... that if I ever got lost, no one would look for me... I thought that... maybe..."

"No."

"...no?"

"You... cared... for me... and... an acquaintance of mine... made me realize... that..."

Serra looks at Jaffar curiously, unsure of what he's going to say or where he's going with the conversation.

 _I don't even know if I understand what I'm saying..._

 _But for some reason, I feel it needs to be said._

"I... I care... about you..."

Serra blushes at the comment, and she hides her face. "You don't mean that! You don't care about anybody! No offense," she blurts out, and Jaffar understands. "I even heard it from Lyn and Nino... that you have no feelings..."

Jaffar says nothing.

He once thought that too.

But maybe now something's changed.

If there _is_ a change... it must be a good one.

* * *

A while later, they eventually arrive back at the camp, just as the rain finally lets up. And while it's evening and the sky is dark, the moon is full, and with the moonlight is it possible to see that the rain clouds are going away and won't be coming back.

"Thank goodness the rain's stopped," Serra comments, clearly relieved that she's back in safe conditions, although her face still shows a small hint of frustration. It's been a long evening. "I need to warm up! Can you see my tent? I need to change my clothes and sit by the fire." Her face then softens. "You should do the same thing. I don't want you to get sick, especially after helping me."

"..."

Jaffar finds Serra's tent quite quickly, as her tent is the biggest one in the whole camp, making it easy to find, but he's also used to seeing in the dark, whereas Serra is not. When they arrive, Serra enters the tent but Jaffar follows her inside silently; not on purpose, but because he's been trained his whole life to not make a sound when travelling. Regardless, she starts to change her clothes, although she's still oblivious to Jaffar's presence as he watches her from the tent entrance. After a few minutes, she's officially in her pyjamas, and it's only when she's about to exit her tent that she notices that Jaffar's been there the whole time.

When she understands the implications of the situation at hand, she blushes heavily and slaps Jaffar in the face.

"YOU WERE WATCHING ME THIS WHOLE TIME?!" she yells, and she gives him another slap when he doesn't answer. He looks completely dumbfounded. "You don't just WATCH a girl as she's changing clothes!" After saying this, she seems to realize something important, and she gasps audibly. "Oh my goodness... you saw my...and you also saw those..."

"You... didn't say... to leave..."

"JAFFAR IS A PERVERT!" Serra starts yelling, and she runs out of her tent, huffing and puffing. She then turns back to Jaffar and says, "I don't care HOW you were raised; I'm going to have to teach you social etiquette!"

Jaffar continues to watch obliviously as Serra starts yelling "JAFFAR IS A PERVERT!" throughout the camp, unsure of what he did wrong. Back in the Black Fang, all of the members shared the same sleeping quarters... although, as he thinks back about the situation now, he remembers that the male and female members were still segregated into separate rooms for changing clothes.

It is at this point that Lyn and Legault arrive back at camp now, doggy bags of food in tow, and pondering what in the world is going on at the camp as Jaffar stands alone in confusion while Serra stomps around the camp yelling about Jaffar.

"...this is not a good sign."

Lyn sighs. "Do you want me to help you figure out what's going on?"

"Yes, that would be greatly appreciated."

* * *

EPILOGUE

Eventually, the misunderstanding was cleared up with the help of Lyn and Legault, and Serra forgave Jaffar for his unintentional rudeness. After that day, as the war went on, Lyndis and Legault grew closer to each other; firstly as friends, and secondly as a couple. They married each other at the end of the war, and after Lyn gave up control of her country, the two of them travelled as nomads, never staying anywhere for more than a few days. They continued their battles of wit in happiness.

Little Nino, now with nowhere to go with Jaffar growing closer with Serra, found solace by becoming an adopted daughter of Lord Pent and Lady Louise, the caretakers of "Erky". The two of them eventually blossomed into a couple as well, and the Reglay's were more than happy to bless the arrangement.

However, what happened concerning the silent assassin and the outspoken cleric?

Well, the days passed during the war, and Serra still constantly talked Jaffar's ears off with stories and complaining, but he nevertheless stayed by her side the whole time. At the end of the war, when everyone began to go their separate ways, Jaffar instinctively followed Serra, without even realizing it. Serra was, of course, happy to have the company of someone who never told her to shut up, and she even gave him a kiss when they arrived at Castle Ostia.

Jaffar hadn't reacted, and Serra never expected him to, but Jaffar couldn't understand the gesture.

It was eventually understood that to fully understand the situation, it was imperative to repeat the action so understanding could be achieved.

Serra had shrieked in surprise when Jaffar kissed her a few days later, and when she asked him about it, he said nothing, for what would he say? Regardless, she kissed back, and clearly, the most logical action in her mind after that was to declare Jaffar as her fiancé, and they were married off the next day.

Were those two ready for marriage? Obviously not.

Did Serra care? Obviously not.

Although Jaffar had no idea what he was getting into, he never regretted the decision. In turn, Serra drew out the emotionless man little by little, and she never regretted her decision either.

Jaffar may never have verbally declared that he loved Serra, but she knew that he did love her in his own way.

And that was all that mattered.

THE END

* * *

 **Bonus Chapter**

"I still can't believe you had no social grace to even THINK that it was okay for men and women to change together in the same room!" Serra remarks, tugging Jaffar's ear playfully. "Our bodies aren't the same!"

"It... matters?" Jaffar asks, and he turns his head in the opposite direction. Even a few days after the... incident, she's _still_ talking to him about it.

"Well, you know I forgive you," she chuckles, and she leans on his shoulder. She plays with her hair a little bit. "Just don't do it again!"

The two of them are one of the few members of the army still at camp; Eliwood suggested the two of them stay out of the next battle at the suggestion of the tactician for some reason. At this point, though, the army returns, and there's a new face in the mix of people; a tall Bernese woman, and while she seems familiar for some reason to Serra, Jaffar recognizes her as a short-lived partner of the Black Fang. Regardless, she carries herself as a strong woman who doesn't take anything from anyone, and when she recognizes Jaffar, she bounds over to the two of them.

"...so you've deserted the Black Fang as well," she observes, staring at Jaffar and seemingly analyzing him. "A smart choice. They would have killed you eventually... er, _girl_ , why are you staring at my..."

She looks down at her torso. "...chest?"

Serra cannot stop staring at the woman's assets. _Chest_ is an understatement. If Serra compared Lyn's chest to cantaloupes, this woman's chest could be compared to watermelons.

Maybe she'll have the answer that Serra needs.

"Sorry, I'm just impressed with your... physique!" Serra fibs, and she silently prays to St. Elimine that she'll ask forgiveness for lying later. "My name's Serra, and I need to know the answer to something that's been working in my mind for a while now!"

The woman puts her hands on her hips in annoyance. "I'm Vaida, and out with it! I don't have all day!" she spits out, sounding quite nasty.

"...do they taste sweet?"

A pause.

"What do you mean 'they'? What's... ohhhhhhhhhhhh," Vaida replies, understanding now, and she grins evilly. Licking her lips, she whispers out loud, "wouldn't you like to know?"

Laughing maniacally, Vaida turns to leave, but before she leaves, she utters, "if you _really_ want to know, ask your boyfriend after you two get married. Heh heh!"

As Vaida cackles to herself during her exit, Serra stares at Jaffar and gives him the most serious look she's ever produced in her life. "Jaffar," she starts, speaking with authority, "if you get married before I do, you have to find out what they taste like and then tell me IMMEDIATELY, okay?"

Jaffar doesn't respond.

THE END

* * *

Author's Notes

I'm back again! Yay!

So this fic is now officially finished! The chapter itself was pretty short, but with the epilogue and the bonus chapter, it's a decent length. I knew I couldn't really make a real confession in this fic, but I needed SOME sort of genuine proof that Jaffar really was starting to care for Serra as more than a friend, so I hope I achieved a good balance in this regard.

The bonus chapter was just some silly fun that I wanted to incorporate somehow, but didn't know how to portray in the story. In case you didn't understand, it took place just a few days after the whole incident of Serra calling Jaffar a pervert that we just read about in this chapter. I wanted to refer to Serra's really random obsession with the particular topic of taste, (which I still know nothing about) and Vaida was my go-to person for that originally, but she hadn't been recruited yet. She's got the biggest chest of the playable females, after all. :p

The top screen of my 3DS broke, so I haven't played FE14 in forever. I've completed Birthright, but I'm stuck on chapter 20 of Conquest, with no way of playing it. I won't be getting another 3DS for a while, so it's given me a bit more time to catch up on a bit of reviews and I certainly got this chapter out faster because of it. So I'll still wait a while before I get another 3DS. :D

I hope you guys enjoyed this story! I thought it was fun to dwell in something REALLY cracky this time, so this pairing of Jaffar with Serra was an interesting adventure. Jaffar is tough to work with, which was another reason why I decided not to go too far with it. Regardless, it was worth writing!

After I write my next AGOH chapter, I get to start SOMETHING DIFFERENT! YAY! I'm not sure what, though. However, I guarantee it will either be a) one of my pending requests b) one of my pending sequels c) a FE9 fic, since I finished FE9 for the first time some months ago. You'll just have to wait and see!

Signed, COOKIECHEESEMAN


End file.
